My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Boy, today has been a very busy day for the Phils, and
they still have to face the Indians tonight.

Boy, a lot of news have been released by the Phils today. Along with their announcement of selecting Darren Daulton as the newest member of the Phils’ Walk of Fame (See previous post), and the expected return of regular shortstop, leader and sparkplug, Jimmy Rollins, the Phils have made several more announcements:

1) To make room for JayRo, the Phils have sent the struggling Greg Dobbs, who is at the moment batting a lousy .152, with one homer and six RBIs, and is only 1 for 25 as a pinch hitter, to assignment. If he clears waivers, Dobbs will likely be sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, to get some well needed at-bats to get his swing back, if he is not either claimed on waivers by another team or is not traded by the Phils within the next 10 days;

2) Carlos Ruiz has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, as he continues to recover from getting his bell rung by a broken bat swing against the back of his head during last Friday night’s game with the Twins. This will leave Brian Schneider as the no. 1 catcher (UGH!) and Dane Sardinha, who was called up after Friday’s game to act as the backup, will stay as the no. 2 catcher, while Ruiz recovers;

3) Scott Mathieson, who came back to the big leagues, was sent back to the minors, with his place on the roster to be taken by Mike Zagurski.

With the above moves the Phils’ bench is now Juan Castro, Wilson Valdez, Ross Gload, Schneider (once Ruiz is back) and Ben Francisco.

With all this, I hope that Rollins will give some life back into the Phils’ starting line-up, with Castro and Valdez both being ready to come off the bench, considering the numbers of at-bats the pair had gotten during Rollins’ two stints on the disabled list. Now, if Francisco can just get his swing back, the bench might actually have improved with Dobbs being sent down. Knock on wood. A lot!!!!

Oh, and Dobbs, if this is the last time that we actually see you in a Phils’ uniform, thanks for helping the team during the last three seasons, but, dude, why did you have to go and stink during the last season plus?

Ruiz, please get well soon.

My thoughts on all these moves? I have no idea on the situation with Mathieson, since it is a tough break from him to be sent back down after returning to the bigs. I just hope the front office knows what it is doing. As for them sending down Dobbs, I think that it was the right move. Dobbs is just not doing it this year, and he might need a temporary (hopefully) change of scenary to (hopefully) get his groove back. As for Rollins’ return, uhm, excuse me….. Yaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhheeeeewwwwww, Jimmy’s back!!!!!! :-) Yes, I’m happy, thank you.

The Phillies (35-32, 3rd NL East) will continue their home stand with a three game series with the Indians (26-42, 5th AL Central), starting with a night game tonight. The game will be played at Citizens Bank Park, and will start at 7:05 pm Eastern. The Phillies will send to the mound Jamie Moyer (7-6, 4.76), who is coming off a win against the Yankees on June 16, as he pitched a strong eight innings, giving up just two runs, both on home runs, on three hits and a walk, while he struck out six, in the Phils’ 6-3 win. He will be going for his eighth win of the season, while trying to start the series for the Phils on a winning note. The Indians will counter with their ace Mitch Talbot (7-5, 4.21), who is coming off a lost against the Mets on June 16, as he went five and two-thirds innings, being rocked for eight runs on thirteen hits, as he struck out only three, in the Indians’ 8-4 lost. He will be trying to recover from the lost, while hoping that the Phils’ bat don’t erupt. The Phils will be trying to win their second interleague series by hopefully taking advantage of one of the weakest teams of the AL. Hopefully there will not be a repeat of last year’s embarrassment at the hands of the Orioles. Come on guys, time to regroup and clobber the tribe with the bats.

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